The Last Emperor was released in New York and Los Angeles 25 years ago last month, but received its wide release in December 1987. So I revisit the film in between the two months. Look for a new 25 Years Ago review later this month when I take a look at Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.
What a strange film is Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor. Twenty-five years
later it still has a powerful resonance. It remains a gorgeous visual piece
with remarkable costumes, art direction, and set decoration. It helps that the
production was given unprecedented access by the Chinese government to film in
the Forbidden City. I’m not sure any set could stand in as effectively for the
real thing, which is imposing with its mammoth surrounding walls and
impenetrable gates that keep the young emperor locked away for all of his
youth. But here is a historical epic about a man who is not a hero. He made no
great impact on a way of life, or any government, or even a great number of
individuals for that matter. Although the story is about the man who happened
to be the last imperial ruler of the old feudal China, it is really a
historical view of a China in transition to a Republic and then a Communist
state, with a passive hero at its center.
